but as they complained that they cannot sell their cloth, usurers and monied men though not in the trade are ordered to buy it." In March the Justices write from Gloucestershire: "The people begin to steal, and many are starving; all trades are decayed; money very scarce." Stocks of cloth accumulated in the London "halls" or warehouses of the various districts, and notes of them were submitted to the Privy Council.
| Pieces unsold. | |
|---|---|
| Gloucester, Worcester, Reading, Somerset, and Suffolk Hall, and Blackwell Hall, | 433 |
| Manchester Hall ("Besides many in the country which are not sent off for want of a market.") | 853 |
| Storehouse for Gloucester, Worcester, Kent, Somerset (Mostly belonging to Kent.) | 1163 |
| Wiltshire Hall | 560 |
| Northern Hall | 5159 |
| Leadenhall (Cloths from Suffolk and Essex.) | 3057 |
| Devonshire Kerseys | 423 |
The merchant-adventurers were appealed to, to buy up these stocks, but they were unable. The ordinary taxes of the country could not be levied, or, when levied, proved only a fraction of the estimated amount, and invariably the commissioner attributed the